


Beacon Hills Lore

by spacewolfcub



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Background information, Fix-It, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Reference material, Supernatural Lore, Werewolf Culture, Werewolf Lore, Werewolf: the Apocalypse - Freeform, Work In Progress, World of Darkness (Games) - Freeform, World of Darkness (Games) - Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Worldbuilding, Yet Another Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 07:40:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19058206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacewolfcub/pseuds/spacewolfcub
Summary: If you like delving into tabletop role-playing games' rulebooks, you might enjoy reading this. Otherwise, please be warned this work is not a narrative about TW characters.The goal of this worldbuilding effort is to have a point of reference for further fics in the Teen Wolf (TV) universe.Please note this work is not marked as complete. It is a very early WIP.No update schedule. Sporadic updates.Please do read the tags.





	1. Supernatural Lore

###  **Shifter**

A creature with the magical ability to shift physical form.

 

###  **Werehuman**

A creature with the magical ability to shift between a nearly human form and another form. An umbrella term used to group different shifters who only have in common a form which closely resembles humans. 

 

###  **Werewolf**

A creature with the magical ability to shift between near-human and near-wolf forms, including a few intermediate forms. With sufficient self-control can shift only parts of their body. (See Werewolf Lore)


	2. Werewolf Lore

## Werewolf Shifts

### Homid

A shifter's form most closely resembling a human. All werewolves have this ability.

Appearance: Varies as would mainstream human population.

Purpose: Blending in among human population.

Height: Varies as would mainstream human population.

Weight: Varies as would mainstream human population.

Senses: Sight is human norm in daylight, much more light-sensitive in darkness but loses detail. Very motion-sensitive. Hearing sensitivity is human norm but the range broader. Scent sensitivity is hound norm.

Magic affinity: Baseline human.

 

#### Wearing your skin

Slang for shifting into one's homid form.

 

### Glabro

A werewolf shift. Only fully-turned wolves have access to this form, though they can be juvenile or adult.

Appearance: Claws, fangs and muzzle sized to a human frame. Partial shift of ears. Tail and light fur present. Clothes strain and tear, but do not shred.

Blue eyes: optimized for low-light; immature coloration of the young or the newly-turned.

Amber eyes: optimized for low-light and blue-coloured light such as moonlight; mature werewolf coloration.

Purpose: Meleé advantage over humans without losing human advantages of dexterity and easily fitting in human spaces.

Height: Adds 6" to 12" onto the homid shift height.

Weight: Doubles or even triples the homid shift weight.

Senses: Far above homid baseline but not as good as Crinos.

Magic affinity: Above baseline human, healing speed increase, and some hostile magic resistance.

 

#### Go Anthro

Slang for shifting into one's glabro form.

 

### Crinos

A werewolf shift. Only adult, fully-turned wolves have the ability to shift into this form.

Appearance: Maximum size claws, fangs, muzzle, limb size. Fully shifted ears, tail, and fur at maximum size /density.

Purpose: Meleé advantage over almost any non-supernatural adversary and most supernatural adversaries commonly found in human and wolf habitats.

Red eyes: optimized for motion-perception in blue-coloured light such as moonlight. Loss of ability to see some colours but improved awareness of peripheral vision.

Height: 9' standing

Weight: 1,000 - 1,500 lbs

Senses: Far above both human and wolf baselines, due to magical augmentation.

Magic affinity: Innate and almost entirely internal, related to strength, reflexes, rapid healing and resistance to outside magical influence.

 

#### Full Aggro

Slang for crinos form. Also "go full aggro" is slang for shifting into one's crinos form.

 

### Hispo

A werewolf shift. Only born wolves have the innate mastery of magic required to stop in this form and not slide right past it into Lupus.

Appearance: Resembles a timber wolf except for being closer in size to a tall siberian tiger.

Blue eyes and amber eyes same as Glabro. 

Purpose: Assuring overwhelming success in hunting almost any wolf-typical prey.

Height: 4' at shoulder

Weight: 700+ lbs

Senses: Far above wolf baseline, but not as good as Crinos.

Magic affinity: Above baseline human if used as conduit but with poor concentration as focus /caster. Healing speed increase, and some hostile magic resistance.

 

#### Hunting Fur

Slang for Hispo form.

 

### Lupus

A werewolf shift. All werewolves have this ability.

Appearance: Resembles the largest subspecies of wolf, canis lupus occidentalis.

Purpose: Blending in among wolf populations.

Height: 3' at shoulder

Weight: 90 - 150 lbs

Senses: Roughly wolf baseline.

Magic affinity: innate and far above baseline human if used as conduit but useless as focus /caster. Healing speed increase at homid shift levels. Very strongly resistant to hostile magic.

 

#### Wearing your fur

Slang for shifting into one's Lupus form.

 

## Werewolf Hierarchy

### Werewolf Pack

A group of weres or humans that shares pack bonds and acts according to the strictures of werewolf instinct and culture. This includes communal living and dependency on group-based hunting and battle.

 

#### Alpha

One who leads, protects, and nurtures the wolfpack. Almost always one of a pair. Usually one of a mated pair. Overwhelmingly werewolf though humans might lead if they prove worthy.

 

#### Beta

One who supports the leaders. Their strengths lie in mediation and logistics management. Almost always one of a pair. Lager wolfpacks might have more than one beta pair, since as mediators they keep the peace among themselves as well; often in packs with more than two betas all betas act as if mated to the other betas.

 

#### Gamma

One who ranks below beta but above delta. Generally the rank of most adults in a wolfpack who are expected to contribute to the pack through physical or intellectual means. Scholars and magic users generally fall into this rank, as they prefer to focus on their specialties rather than also take on other pack duties.

 

#### Delta

One who ranks below gamma due to temporary infirmity such as extreme youth or long-term illness but is expected to significantly strengthen before becoming a drain on wolfpack resources. Their care is considered an investment in future strength.

 

#### Omega

The most fragile and least capable members of a pack who are not expected to recover or improve. The congenitally or terminally ill and the very elderly fall into this category, as do less gifted pack members such as an average human in an all-were pack. Their care is considered reward for bravery, tenacity, or past service.

> "The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members"
> 
> ~ Mahatma Gandhi

 

### Xeno

An outsider who does not belong to the pack. Usually refers to an individual belonging to no pack at all, since members of other packs would be identified by their pack and rank within that pack. Even humans with tight-knit families are referred to by their surname and familial affiliation.

 

### Pack Bonds

The autonomous magical construct created through often-subsconscious mutual acceptance of obligations towards each other's care, protection and well-being. They do not require mutual affection or approval, only loyalty and trust in that loyalty. Formed both in bloodkin families and families of choice, by werewolves and/or other sapient/sentient animals that favour social groups.

> "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."
> 
> ~ Robert Frost

 

## Werewolf "Science" (handwaving wildly)

### Lycanthropy

The genetic condition anchoring the magical abilities of a shifter to the specific forms a werewolf can assume. Technically a dormant viral infection, since any werewolf could theoretically turn their own lycanthropy genes into a transmissible retrovirus.

 

#### Lycanthropy Retrovirus

An infective agent which can only be produced on purpose by an established (not newly-turned) werewolf if triggered magically by an Alpha Spark (usually their own) [See Magical Concepts]. Disseminated through all bodily fluids of a werewolf when actively being produced, but most commonly transmitted through saliva in a bite.

It can result in a newly-turned werewolf, bite rejection and a dead human, or a partial turning which leaves the target as a shifter locked into forms magically derived from their psychological affinities but are at least usually werehuman.

 

#### Bite Rejection

Autoimmune response to cells changed by the lycanthropy retrovirus. Most often caused by blocking of the magical properties of the virus which allow it to cause a serious mutation without triggering the existing immune system to attack the changed cells. Characterized by extremely rapid necrosis, though most victims die of [ toxic shock syndrome ](https://www.merckmanuals.com/en-ca/home/infections/bacterial-infections-gram-positive-bacteria/toxic-shock-syndrome).


	3. Magical Lore

### Spark 

A magical construct created through often-involuntary belief of a group in an individual's ability to provide for, protect, nurture and coordinate the group and its individuals. It can only be induced in a member of a species that favours living in social groups, by members of species that favour living in social groups. 

When an individual able to manipulate magical forces is given such a spark, it enhances enhances any natural magic innate to them (intellectual or physical). 

 

#### Alpha Spark 

The name used specifically within werewolf culture when referring to the spark of a pack leader. 

It cannot be stolen by combat; that is a myth perpetuated when mutiny against an unjust previous leader is spearheaded by one warrior and culminates in a duel. The mutiny itself dissipates the previous leader's spark. The leader of the rebellion after a successful duel is then seen by the remaining pack as the trusted leader and therefore an alpha spark is created within them. 

"Real power can only be _given_ and never taken." 

 

### Magic User 

Someone aware of magical energies and able to manipulate them through either innate talent or acquired skill. 

 

#### Druid 

A magic user principally concerned with the immortality of the soul and reincarnation. Their lore is passed only through oral tradition. Their religious activities involve dispensing healing, divination, political and legal advice, but also ritual animal and human sacrifices. Druids firmly believe in reincarnation, and thus murder is seen by them as an inconvenience than an unforgivable act. 

Darachs are dark druids that use their knowledge of the afterlife to affect the physical world even after giving up their mortal existence. 

##### Nemeton 

A sacred space set up by druids for druid rituals. At Beacon Hills the druidic sacred space used to be centred on a tree, of which now only the stump is left and whose roots have grown into an abandoned cellar nearby. The remains of the Beacon Hills Nemeton can still absorb sacrifices and pass that power on to druids.

 

#### Witch 

A magic user principally concerned with harmony between sapients versus nature in the physical and metaphysical world. Their lore is most often passed through personal journals known as Books of Shadows. Their religious activities involve primarily dispensing healing, divination and spellcasting, but also ritual seasonal worship of the cycles of death and rebirth. They believe in karmic return and so refuse to perform sacrificial deaths, though blood sacrifices are allowed if blood sources consent and survive.

##### Familiar 

Known as Spirit Guardians in modern times, familiars are metaphysical beings that usually take on animal appearance to communicate their affinities. Sometimes they temporarily or permanently inhabit a mortal form. A familiar helps focus a witch's will, guide and anchor hir during trances, and augment hir ability to channel natural powers during spellcasting. 

##### Coven 

A group of 13 witches who come together to lend their magical power to rituals and act as conduits for the caster. Witches do not draw power from sacrificial deaths, but from themselves and natural magics around them and so an abundance of witches and familiars is best to act as conduits of natural power during powerful spellcasting. Their sacred spaces are highly mobile, but proximity to natural sources of power such as ley lines is preferred. 

 

#### Shaman 

A magic user principally concerned with respecting nature powers and maintaining balance between the physical and the metaphysical world. Their lore is passed on largely through oral tradition and hands-on training. Their religious activities involve primarily dispensing healing, divination, and ritually influencing nature metaphysical powers to aid their tribe (typically through individual or group trances). Shaman believe life and the afterlife are of great value and should both be respected. 

##### Spirit Guide 

Metaphysical beings that usually take on animal appearance to communicate their affinities. They differ from familiars in their desire to impart wisdom, inside and out of trance states. They almost never take mortal form though they might influence elements in nature to guide their magic user to hidden knowledge. Like familiars they also focus their magic user's will, guide and anchor hir during trances, and enhance hir spellcasting's influence over the spirits. 

##### Tribe 

A shaman's path is to seek wisdom, and the best way to gain wisdom is to teach others. Al those under the care and tutelage of a shaman are considered hir tribe. There can be travelling shamans with large territories and loose tribal associations, but a shaman without a tribe is no shaman at all. 

 

### Emissary 

A human who acts as a link between werewolf pack and the mainstream human world. Can provide assistance to the pack when a non-were is needed; in medical, magical, or diplomatic situations.  

Most Emissaries start out as magic users, the rest almost always dedicate themselves to the pursuit of magic so as to not be ranked omega within their packs or to not be the weakest link in their packs' defenses. 

 

#### Druid Emissaries 

Since most werewolf alphas are far more concerned with supernatural threats, druids are often chosen for this position due to their diplomatic and political savvy.  

Druids are generally interested in becoming associated with a werewolf pack for the power of frequent kills due to territorial disputes, and the possibility that the pack will induce a spark within them to augment their magical abilities. 

 

#### Witch Emissaries 

For werewolf alphas inclined to diplomacy and politics in both the supernatural and the human world, witches are a better choice of emissary since they will become attached to wolfpack members as they would their Coven or Familiars.

Although they start doing the work of an emissary because their magical work can benefit from the association, they soon become fully integrated into the pack. And for wolves, politics are important but loyalty is priceless. 

 

#### Shaman Emissaries 

Werewolf alphas surrounded by human cultures steeped in ancestor worship and spirit magic will probably find the cultural power of a shaman and hir tighter connections to the human community to be worth the nuisance of constantly having every decision questioned. Also, they are truly amazing mediators but sadly, are actually impartial. 

Shaman do the work of emissary because absolutely nobody is out of bounds in the shaman's quest for both gaining and imparting wisdom, not even wolfpacks, and their willingness to work directly with a shaman is a rare opportunity in the supernatural world. 

 

### Threshold 

The autonomous magical construct created through the often-involuntary belief of mortals that a space marked by physical barriers is safe and secure. 

It is strengthened by emotional attachment to such a space, the number of people that believe and feel this way, and the length of time such beliefs are held. Most strengthened by the blind faith of children; happy family homes produce stronger thresholds, and multiple generations of happy children produce the strongest thresholds. 

Crossing a threshold may be impossible or come with great effort (or at a cost) for some beings unless invited in. If invited into the home by its owner or an inhabitant, the invited being can pass into the home completely unaffected. 

Everyone is affected by thresholds, though those uninitiated into magic will often cross them uninvited and unaware of the cost they've paid in doing so. 

 

### Wards 

A ward is a magical construct and boundary consciously and deliberately set up by a magic user in order to affect the perimeter of a space or the entire space within the wards. They can have different effects; detection (alarms), physical barrier, selective barrier (privacy), stopping hostile magic, and even causing physical /mental /lethal damage. More powerful wards need to draw power from a source external to the caster such as a threshold, ley lines, or ritual sacrifice. 

Wards that depend on the caster for power can be taken down by the death of the caster. The only known way for intruders to get past wards with external power sources is to set the entire building or area on fire. 


	4. Magical Tools

### Mountain Ash 

Sorbus domestica, or the rowan tree. The wood of the rowan tree is used as both path and barrier between the physical and the metaphysical, and considered especially potent in combination with its associated element: fire. Because of this and of their physical malleability, rowan ashes are one of the favourite physical anchors for wards that block magical energies or beings imbued with a great deal of magical energy. By themselves rowan ashes do nothing and must be imbued with belief from a magic user. 

##### Pricing and provenance: 

Rowan wood, flowers, and berries are affordable but must be obtained through networking with magical practitioners or grown privately. Sorbus domestica is listed as an endangered species in Switzerland and Austria, uncommon in Spain, and very rare in Britain. Products from wild rowan trees are prohibitively expensive due to the rarity of the trees, but many planted groves exist tended by magic practitioners in North America, Europe, and Northern Africa which are affordable rowan sources. 

##### History:

Long thought to offer protection from spells and enchantments due to its edible, autumnal berries — because they are red and have five pointed (pentacle) calyxes. Its early-summer-blooming white flowers are five-lobed and form in large clusters, and are somehow associated with the Faerie realm. Its element association is fire, and so rowan ashes and incense are seen as very powerful. Its astral association is to the moon (white flowers) and the sun (red berries) and to dawn and dusk as transitional states. Rowan is the gatekeeper, both the path and the barrier. 

Some say rowan is used by magic users and faerie, others say it is used against them. 

 

### Blue-Purple Wolfsbane 

Aconitum napellus, or monkshood. All parts of the plant contain toxins, specially the roots and seeds. Symptoms include numbness, tingling, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, lowered blood pressure, respiratory paralysis and heart rhythm abnormalities which can lead to death. Poisoning can occur by touch or by ingestion. It is very easy to obtain and a traditional poison against large carnivores. Also during open warfare or court intrigue. 

##### Treatment: 

There is no specific antidote, only treatment for symptoms as they present. All patients require close monitoring of blood pressure and cardiac rhythm. Gastrointestinal decontamination with activated charcoal can be used if given within one hour of ingestion, rowan wood activated charcoal is recommended. The major physiological antidote is [atropine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropine), which is used to treat bradycardia typically given intravenously or by injection into a muscle but more easily obtainable as belladonna supplements. 

 

#### Yellow Wolfsbane 

Aconitum anthora, or yellow monkshood, or healing wolfsbane. Still toxic to humans but mild enough to be reduced to less lethal forms for shifters such as a paralytic, at lesser concentration a hallucinogenic, at lesser concentration a sedative like alcohol is for humans. 

 

#### Northern Blue Monkshood 

Aconitum noveboracense, is considered a threatened species. It grows in rare portions of New York State and in portions of the Driftless Area. Useful if magical cures require access to the the exact same species used to create the poison. 

 

### Belladonna 

Atropa belladonna, or deadly nightshade. Belladonna contains scopolamine and atropine, used for reducing body discharges, controlling the heart rate and relaxing muscles. Belladonna supplements are not regulated by the FDA and easy to acquire as extracts, creams, ointments, and suppositories. They are therefore useful in treating wolfsbane poisoning in werewolves or other magical creatures not well suited to hospital care by mundanes. 

 

### Silver 

Silver is a great conductor of energy, including magic. It is often used to prevent wound infection and treat contagious illness. 

The under-educated might use silver against werewolves because silver is "pure" and werewolves are "evil"; that is not why it works. Magically-treated silver is a great conductor of magical energy that attempts to purify the body of the non-human lycanthropy retrovirus. Depending on distribution and concentration of administered silver it can cause bite rejection in the newly turned, or it can attempt to purify the body of a born or long-term turned were and cause violent, systemic autoimmune response. In essence, it becomes a magical cure that kills. 

Because of its strong association with the Moon it can also be used to heal, recharge, or temper the energies of werewolves and other lunar-affined beings. 

 

### Mistletoe 

Viscum album, or European mistletoe. Phoradendron leucarpum, or American mistletoe. Both are used as guardians of gateways; protecting structures from fire and lighting, banishing unpleasant dreams or negative influences, and granting access to the underworld. Considered an antidote to poison and remedy for sterility, circulatory and respiratory ailments. 

They do not bar entry to magical beings unless those beings have negative intentions towards occupants of a room or dwelling. If ingested they are toxic to humans and poisonous to canines and felines (including weres), causing: drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, abnormal heart rate, fainting, hypotension, ataxia, seizures and death. 

##### Treatment: 

Induced vomiting.   
Activated charcoal (rowan preferred).   
IV fluids in case of dehydration.   
Oxygen therapy in case of respiratory depression.   
Cardiac monitoring and possible treatment with belladonna.   
Hepatic monitoring after toxins clear the system to make sure were healing is curing liver entirely. 


End file.
